Silo structure and loading and unloading means therefor



y 3, 1969 H. K. CYMARA 3,443,700

SILO STRUCTURE AND LOADING AND UNLOADING MEANS THEREFOR Filed Sept. 29, 1966 Sheet of 5 INVENTOR.

HERMANN H.CYMARA. FIG. I

ATTORNEY y 3, 1969 H. K. CYMARA 3,443,700

SILO STRUCTURE AND LOADING AND UNLOADING MEANS THEREFOR Filed Sept. 29, 1966 Sheet 3 of 5 27 1 BIG 2 BIZ V V 306 309 /3?4 308 i l I02 I =5 3 303/4 J E; I ,\,v A] 305? 1 l [12 302 E r I 41 L E 1,

A c a 7' i 7' p t 1 c 1 L 5 4 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY HERMANN H CY MARA.

May 13, 19

H. K. CYMARA SILO STRUCTURE AND LOADING AND Filed Sept. 29, 1966 UNLOADING MEANS THEREFOR Sheet of 5 INVENTOR.

HERMANN H CYMARA- BIY FY ATTORNEY Sheet H. K. CYMARA SILO STRUCTURE AND LOADING AND UNLOADING MEANS THEREFOR l &

FIG.6

INVENTOR. HERMANN H. CYMARA.

ATTORNEY y 3, 1969 H. K. CYMARA 3,443,700

SILO STRUCTURE AND LOADING AND UNLOADING MEANS THEREFOR Filed Sept. 29, 1966 Sheet 5 of 5 INVENTOR.

HER MANN H. CYMARA- BY \w. M

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3 443 700 SILO STRUCTURE ANI) LbADING AND UNLOAD- ING MEANS THEREFOR Hermann K. Cymara, RD. 2, Newfield, N.Y. 14867 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Circular silo having a floor, a tapering side wall and air tight roof, and a covered conveyor for filling, the cross sectional area encompassed by the side wall gradually decreasing from floor to roof and including spaced staves of tapering members tapering from floor to roof, the side wall having door openings spaced by columns at the floor level, with doors for each and having a collapsible rectangular tunnel forming apparatus on the floor extending along a radius and collapsible for removal through any door opening, a radial worm distributor at the upper end of the silo hung from the roof and riding on an annular rail, and rake apparatus disposed along a radius of the floor driven from below the floor by a coupling extending through a center aperture in the floor, the rake apparatus having tined rake members moving in a vertical plane parallel to the radius outwardly of the silo toward a door opening, the rake apparatus being removable from the silo through a door opening by uncoupling from the drive.

This invention relates to silos and more particularly to filling thereof from the top and the withdrawal of silage from the bottom.

It has been the practice to fill silos from the top, and to provide apparatus for removing silage from the surface level of the silage in the silo. Such practice results in the silage last stored to be the first used.

The present invention is directed to a silo in which filling from the top can be effected in a variety of circular patterns whereby to mix the silage, and provide annular separation. The invention also has to do with removal of the silage through door openings at the floor level. The invention also has to do with a silo having a tapered configuration, whereby the diameter at the base is greatest and whereby the diameter decreases as the upper end is approached by using tapered concrete stave sections.

The above and other novel features of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is expressly understood that the drawings are employed for purposes of illustration only and are not designed as a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a silo according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view of the silo with parts broken away;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a silage removal apparatus;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of either FIGURE 3 or FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 66 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of a tunnel forming apparatus with one side plate removed;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view of the tunnel forming 3,443,700 Patented May 13, 1969 apparatus, taken substantially on the line 8-8 of FIG- URE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a plan view of the distributor;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view taken on the line 10 10 of FIGURE 9;

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary side elevation of the distributor; and

FIGURE 12 is a sectional view taken on the line 12- 12 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to FIGURE 1 there is shown a silo 20 made up of a plurality of tongue and groove sections 22 which are essentially rectangular, and held in circular formation by a series of tension bands 24. In order to provide a slight taper in the internal diameter of the silo, so that the lower diameter will be greatest, and the diameter gradually diminish, toward the upper end, a plurality of vertical stave sections will comprise a series of tapered sections, widening from top to bottom as at 26, whereas the intervening rows from top to bottom, may be essentially rectangular, or of the same width from top to bottom. In this manner, by employing as many tapered sections 26, uniformly spaced around the silo, as desired, a silo of any degree of taper may be had, using mostly vertical rows of uniform width, with intervening tapered rows. By having the interior wall tapered outwardly towards the bottom, silage will tend to gravitate, and frictional attachment to the silo wall will be decreased since by reason of the taper the silage as it gravitates, tends to become detached from the wall. The silo is provided with a roof 30, and at the floor level indicated at 32, a plurality of doorways 34 are provided between intervening columns 36, which support an annular base 37. Each opening 36 is provided with a door 3 8, any number of which can be held open as by hooks 40 as shown or other means. The roof is airtight.

Silage removed through any one of the doors drops on a rotary annular conveyor 42, riding on rollers 44, and driven by any suitable means coupled to the shaft 46. A conveyor type elevator for carrying silage to the top of the silo is indicated at 48, the conveyor 25 of which is driven by the shaft 27, by power transmitted to the shaft by any suitable means.

In order to remove silage from the silo at the floor level, and eject the same through any one of the doors, a power driven endless chain and side rake apparatus is employed. As shown in FIGURES 3-5, the rake apparatus comprises a vertical shaft 50 adapted to be located at the center of the silo floor 32. Such shaft is adapted to be connected by a spline coupling, with a power shaft 54 adapted to be projected upwardly through a center aperture 51 in the floor 32, and driven through ibevel gears 56 by a motor 58. The shaft 54, and the shaft 60, driven by the motor 58 either at motor speed or a built in motor reduction gear not shown, are each journalled in a bearing bracket 64, and provision is made for lowering the shaft 54 as by a yoke and collar 66, actuated by a hand control 68, so that the splined end of shaft 54 can be retracted below the floor level to permit removal or placement of the side rake apparatus as a unit, merely by uncoupling the shaft 50 as at 52, by such retraction, or recoupling, after the rake apparatus has been set in position.

The shaft 50 has keyed to it a pair of sprockets 70 and 72 disposed on opposite sides of a radius guide plate 74, having at its other end a journal for a stub shaft 76, and sprockets 78 and 80 disposed on opposite sides of the plate. The sprockets 78 and 80 are keyed to the shaft 76. Endless chains 82 and 84 ride on the sprockets 70 and 78 and 72 and 80 respectively, and at uniformly spaced intervals side rakes 86 are attached to said chains. The rakes 86 have varying tine arrangements as at or 87 3 in FIGURE 5 or 89 in FIGURE 4. The reaches 88 and 90 of such chains are guided and held straight by the side edges 89 and 91 of the radius guide plate 74, upon which the back sides of the respective rakes 86 ride.

The rake apparatus is supported at its outer end by a toothed wheel 92 having pin teeth 93 adapted to engage in a series of equally spaced apertures 94 circumferentially disposed in track like arrangement about the center of the shaft 54 and the center aperture 51 of the silo floor 32. Such toothed wheel is journalled on a bracket 96 having a portion affixed to the underside of the guide plate 74, and an arm 98 projecting radially and apertured to receive the stub shaft 76. The lower end of the stub shaft 76 may be provided with a radial resilient finger 100 adapted to sweep the projections or teeth 93 of the wheel 92 in order to urge rotation thereof in one direction, and to urge the rake apparatus to swing about the center of shaft 50 in the direction of arrow A in FIGURE 3. It will be understood that with each full rotation of the stub shaft 76 the finger 100 will sweep the upper edge of the wheel 92 and tend to urge the same to rotate, to urge the rake apparatus to move in the direction of arrow A. If too great a resistance is afforded, the finger will resiliently yield and spring past the pin 93, and drive in the direction of arrow A will not occur. Retrograde movement of the rake apparatus, in a direction opposite to arrow A, may be prevented as by a spring arm 106 pivoted on the bracket 96, such arm engaging the pins 93 of the wheel 92 and preventing reverse rotation, or any other one way brake.

In practice the silo will be filled, without the rake apparatus in place, there being placed within the silo a collapsible tunnel, before filling commences. Such tunnel will preserve adequate space for the insertion of the rake apparatus, after the silo is filled, and after the collapsible tunnel is withdrawn from the silo through an open doorway. When such tunnel is withdrawn from the silo, a cavity is left of sufficient size to permit the ready in sertion of the rake apparatus through an open doorway, the silage forming a natural bridge.

The tunnel apparatus, see FIGURES 7 and 8, comprises a fiat plate 120, having a plurality of support members 122 hinged to the underside of the plate as at 123, and adapted when disposed vertical, to hold the plate as shown in FIGURE 7. The tunnel is completed by side plates, 124 and 126, which may rest in shallow grooves 130 in the silo floor, and have their upper edges flush with and bearing against the side edges of plate 120. Thrust means including a thrust bar 132 extending through apertures in each of the support members 122, and having collars 134 and 136 afiixed on opposite sides of each member 122, is provided with a screw thread 137 and hand wheel 139 at its outer end, the bar 132 being threaded in a collar 138 afiixed to a bracket 140 depending from the underside of the plate 120. When the tunnel apparatus is in place, it is disposed generally radially inward of a doorway, and over the center aperture 51 with the side plates 124 and 126 located as shown in FIGURE 8, and the support members arranged vertically. The tunnel apparatus is adapted to support the silage delivered into the silo from the top, the silage building up around the tunnel apparatus, and the end plate 142 thereof. The tunnel apparatus is adapted to support as much silage as may be introduced. When the silo is filled, or filled sufficiently so that the silage has sufliciently compacted around the tunnel apparatus so as to form a natural bridge capable of preserving the space defined by the tunnel apparatus, upon the removal thereof, the tunnel apparatus may be removed through the adjacent doorway, and rake apparatus inserted in the space so preserved.

Upon insertion of the rake apparatus, the shaft 50 is coupled to the drive shaft 54 by projecting the drive shaft 54 upwardly through aperture 51, and the motor 58 started. The rake apparatus will have its toothed wheel 92 aligned with the circumferenetial track of apertures 94. Sprocket 70 is driven in the direction of arrow B, and the upper reach of the chains as seen in FIGURE 3, will move in the direction of arrow C and the wheel 92 will tend to rotate the rake apparatus in the direction of arrow A, whereupon the tines of the rakes 86 moving in the direction of arrow C will sweep along the side wall of the tunnel formed in the silage by the removed tunnel apparatus. The silage, as it is swept by the rake is propelled radially out through one or more of the open doors, which are opened as the rake apparatus swings about its pivotal center, of the shaft 50. The silage is thus discharged through an open door onto the annular distributor 42.

It will be understood that as the rake apparatus is constantly urged into the side wall of silage, silage will be swept therefrom, and moved radially outward. The load of silage above the rake apparatus will tend to descend in the path cleared behind the rake apparatus, but the silage is so matted and intertwined, that until the tunnel groove is considerably enlarged by the raking action as the rake apparatus advances in the direction of the arrow C, no downward movement of the silage above results. In other words above the rake apparatus there is always a natural bridge of silage which is sufficient to carry the load of the silage stored above, until a sufficient Widening of the tunnel from a narrow channel, such as was originally formed by the tunnel apparatus, before removal, has been increased to a tunnel of sector shape due to the advance of the rake. Only then does the roof or silage bridge tend to cave in and gradually fill the void behind the rake apparatus.

Through the continual raking away of the silage on one side of the tunnel only, always presenting a relatively vertical wall of silage under attack by the tines of the rake, silage is driven out from the silo onto the annular conveyor, along the path indicated at arrow D in FIGURE 6. Rotation of the annular conveyor in the direction of arrow E distributes the silage dumped on the conveyor. In order to feed a large herd from such a silo, one or more conveyor type feeders may extend radially from the annular conveyor as shown at 200. Deflectors or gates 204 are adapted to be swung across the annular conveyor to deflect silage from the annular conveyor onto one or more of the radial conveyors 200, in accordance with the positioning of the several gates 204.

Filling the silo may be effected in a number of ways through the use of the filling distributor 300, which comprises an inclined trough 302 extending from the central area, in an inclined manner to near the outer wall of the upper end of the silo. The trough is somewhat semicircular in cross section and is provided with a feed worm 304, about seven turns of which are disposed to one side of center and about one and a half turns of which extend to the other side of center. The feed worm, and in fact the center end of the trough is supported from a depending central drive shaft 306 which drives the worm through bevel gears, not shown, in the miter gear box 308. The drive shaft is supported by a spider 309 setting in the center aperture of the silo roof, and through which aperture, the conveyor 50 discharges. The shaft 306 is driven by a motor 310, which can be uncoupled from the shaft as at 312, to permit the placing of a cap on the silo. The outer end of the trough is supported and rotated about the silo, by a toothed wheel 303 afiixed to the worm shaft 305, such shaft being journalled in cross members 307 and 309 at opposite ends of the trough. The toothed wheel runs in an annular flange 312 disposed on the inside wall of the silo, such flange having complementary teeth 319 to provide traction. The side edges of the trough are provided with extensions 314 and 316, extending substantially parallel with the shaft 305, and may be provided with rollers 315 and 317, riding on the flange 312, thereby to steady the trough as it proceeds around the silo. The side wall of the trough may have one or more spiral slots 320 to permit discharge short of the end of the trough,

and such slots 320, can be covered by slide doors 321 mounted on rods 322, which can be manipulated to open or close the slots 320, to vary the distribution pattern to suit. In practice the motor may be reversed so that distribution can be effected from the major length of the trough, or from the upper end 326, when the motor is reversed.

By varying the distribution, as the silo is filled, the silo may be first filled by laying up a cone of silage in the center by gradually decreasing the radius of the distribution, and when a conical heap has been built up, the surrounding space around the conical heap can be filled in with silage of a different type. When this is done, distribution of the silage by the rake apparatus, will distribute a gradually varying mixture, the silage being first about 100% of the feed in the central cone, and gradually varying to a mix of a continually varying proportion of the central cone of feed, than that surrounding the cone. In this manner a herd is not subjected to any sudden change in diet, as would be true if the silo Were filled level with a first type of silage, and followed by the addition of a uniformly thick additional layer of a different type of silage. Thus the versatility of the apparatus will be appreciated, with the delivery of silage from the bottom on a first in, first out basis, with graduated changes in mix, depending on the filling procedure employed.

While a single embodiment with variations of the invention has been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. As various changes in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, reference will be had to the appended claims for a definition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A silo having a floor, a substantially circular side wall and roof, and means at the upper roof end for filling, said side wall comprising a plurality of vertical stave sections of uniform width and comprising a plurality of like rectangular tongue and groove members extending from floor to roof, and said side wall comprising a plurality of tapering stave sections comprised of a series of tapering tongue and groove members extending from floor to roof, said tapering sections being spaced at substantially uniform intervals about the silo and adjacent tapering sections being spaced by intervening vertical sections comprising said rectangular tongue and groove members whereby the cross sectional area encompassed by said side wall gradually decreases from floor to roof, said side wall being provided with door openings at the floor level, the openings being disposed around the entire silo and separated by columns, and doors for each of said door openings to close the lower end of the silo and to provide access to the lower end thereof.

2. A silo according to claim 1 having collapsible tunnel forming apparatus disposed on the floor thereof along a radius and in alignment with a door, said tunnel forming apparatus having collapsible rigid and side walls removable through a door opening.

3. A silo having a floor, a substantially circular side Wall and roof, and means at the upper end for filling, the cross sectional area encompassed by said side Wall gradually decreasing from floor to roof, said side well being provided with door openings at the floor level, doors for each of said door openings to close the lower end of the silo, and to provide access to the lower end thereof, said side wall having tapered sections extending from floor to roof, said silo having rake apparatus disposed along a radius of the floor thereof, and driving means for the rake apparatus disposed below the floor and coupled to the rake apparatus through a center aperture in the floor, said rake apparatus having tined rake members moving in a vertical plane parallel to the said radius outwardly of the silo toward a door opening thereof, and means for uncoupling and coupling of the rake apparatus with respect to the driving means for the removal from and the placement thereof within the silo through a door opening thereof.

4. A silo in accordance with claim 1 wherein the filling means comprises a closedconveyor extending up along the side wall and over the roof to the approximate center thereof to a central filling aperture, and in which the roof is otherwise air tight.

5. A silo in accordance with claim 4 wherein the silo is provided with a distributing mechanism, said distributing mechanism being suspended from the roof at the center thereof, and extending toward the silo side wall, and in which the inside wall of the silo is provided with an annular trackway flange, and said distributor is provided with a roller riding on said flange.

6. A silo in accordance with claim 5, wherein the distributor comprises a chute of semicircular cross-section and a helical Worm disposed in the chute coaxial of the chute, extending from the center of the silo toward the flange and wherein said worm has a drive shaft, the outer end of which is provided with a drive wheel riding on said flange for swinging said distributor circumferentially upon rotation of the worm, and power drive means including a drive shaft coaxial of the silo extending downwardly through the fitting aperture said last named shaft having a miter gear drive connection with said helical worm drive shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,274,548 8/1918 Holnagel et a1. 3,024,923 3/1962 Osborne 2l4l7 3,145,855 8/1964 Plugge et al. 2l4l7 3,193,117 7/1965 Best 2l4l7 3,229,665 1/1966 .Baltz 2l4l7 3,339,760 9/1967 Louks 214-17 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,109,091 6/ 1961 Germany.

ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 52-248 

